Hyperlinks
The advisor may want to include in their communications, including on their website, hyperlinks (leading to other websites) to direct their readers to sources of information they find relevant.
They must remember that the presence of a hyperlink may be interpreted as a recommendation for the content of the linked web page, especially regarding advice that may be given there.
Before adding a hyperlink to another page, such as a blog or a web page of a financial institution, the CSF, or the AMF to their website, messages on social media, or electronic communications, the advisor must first read the terms of use of these pages to ensure that they have the right to do so.
Terms of use are usually found at the bottom of website home pages. If they stipulate that authorization is required to publish a hyperlink, the advisor must first ensure they obtain it.
Most websites include terms of use that users agree to by simply visiting the site. Even if they don’t read them, users are presumed to be aware of them and through this very act agree to not publish a hyperlink to the website they’re visiting.
These terms of use are stated due to copyrights associated with the production of electronic material and content, in accordance with regulations on intellectual property.
The CSF website’s terms of use indicate that a user must request written authorization before adding a hyperlink to the site. They also specify that if the CSF provides its authorization, the hyperlink cannot suggest that the CSF is associated in any way with the site linking to it, nor that it approved the content, and that it reserves the right to require the removal of any hyperlink to its site. The Autorité website’s terms of use stipulate essentially the same thing.
